The 2024 Lok Sabha Elections came to a close on Tuesday, and while the BJP-led National Democratic Alliance (NDA) are set to form the next government, the BJP still fell short of the majority mark. The Congress-led INDI Alliance did put up a show, winning 232 seats.
There were a few ex-sportspersons who have made it to the political field and went onto participate in the 2024 General Elections . Some of them are — Former cricketers Yusuf Pathan and Kirti Azad, hockey legend Dilip Tirkey, Paralympic medallist Devendra Jhajhariya and ex-footballer and Arjuna awardee Prasun Banerjee.
We now take a look at how each of these former sporting icons performed at the General Elections:
Yusuf Pathan
Yusuf Pathan, a World Cup-winner, was handed a ticket by the All India Trinamool Congress (AITC) from West Bengal’s Baharampur.
Yusuf was up against Congress candidate Adhir Ranjan Chaudhary, and the former all-rounder emerged victorious by 85,022 votes, thereby ending the latter’s record of five consecutive terms.
Kirti Azad
A member of India’s historic 1983 World Cup triumph, Kirti Azad, too, earned a ticket of the AITC this time around. He defeated Bharatiya Janata Party’s Dilip Ghosh for the Durgapur seat, by 1, 37, 981 votes, marking a successful return to his political career.
Kirti, who is the son of Bhagwat Azad Jha, former Bihar Chief Minister, had won twice on a BJP ticket in 2009 and 2014, but was expelled for exposing corruption in the Delhi & District Cricket Association under the late Arun Jaitley, who was then the Finance Minister.
Azad did compete under Congress’ ticket from Dhanbad in 2019, but ended up losing.
Prasun Banerjee
Prasun Banerjee, a former India footballer and brother of the great PK Banerjee, defeated BJP’s Dr. Rathin Chakravarty by 1,69,442 in West Bengal to begin his third straight term at the Lok Sabha.
Prasun, who has played for Mohun Bagan, Mohammedan Sporting apart from playing for India, had become the first professional footballer to secure a Lok Sabha seat in 2013 when he clinched the by-polls under the AITC banner.
Dilip Tirkey
Legendary hockey player Dilip Tirkey suffered a defeat from Sundargarh to BJP’s Jual Oram by more than one lakh votes. Dilip had contested for Biju Janata Dal (BJD) but suffered a comprehensive defeat . Tirkey, who has played for India in three editions of the Olympic Games is currently the president of Hockey India. From 2012 to 2018, he had served as Rajya Sabha MP from Odisha.
Devendra Jhajhariya
Former Paralympic medallist Devendra Jhajhariya had competed from Rajasthan under a BJP ticket but lost to Indian National Congress’s Rahul Kaswan by 72, 736 votes. The former javelin thrower is the current president of the Paralympics Committee of India, having succeeded Deepa Malik.
